Back yard- Garate style

After a sad goodbye to a fun filled week with the Garates, we were left with one little reminder of them: OUR NEW AND IMPROVED BACK YARD!!

Within a matter of hours, Ben and Sara had completely renovated our back yard. With Ben's precise measurement and Sara's speedy little fingers, we had ourselves a sparkling new backyard hang out. What used to be a "nice place to sit sometimes when it's hot" is now our most favorite place to be any hour of the day.

From this:

TO THIS!!!!

THANK YOU BEN AND SARA! ....and Gwen, Kennedy, and Tito for keeping yourselves busy for 3 1/2 hours on a 10 x 10 square of concrete (and a box). It was really fun to work on this project with all of you. What's next, a third story? Love you guys :)

I am so Special Ed

How does a kid know that he loves me when he doesn't know his name? He has so many barriers that keep him from understanding what is going on his life. He doesn't know how old he is, or where he lives. He doesn't know to take care of himself. He doesn't know why everyone is telling him to "line up" or "sit down" or "wash your hands". So how does he know me, and know that he loves me?

Today, in the middle of a science lesson (involving the usual "glue the bee on the flower" activity that most of my students have no clue what the meaning is) I walked around the classroom to see how my students were progressing on the activity.

One kid was eating the paper.

One kid was compulsively cutting the paper into small triangles.

One kid was rubbing glue on his cheeks.

One kid had thrown away the activity altogether.

And, one kid looked up at me with his horribly crooked teeth and said, "I love you Mrs. Orr" with his cute little Somolian accent.

I kneeled down and gave him such a tight hug. He patted my back while I hugged him. I taught him that.

His birthday is coming up and he will be 11. Just a hair over 3 feet tall. He doesn't know how to count, say his letter sounds, or draw shapes. But he knows he can love and can give a strong hug. And that makes me melt. Sometimes I wish I could be more like these kids.

4 cups of coffee later....

.....and I's gots me some spring break jitters. And what is a girl to do with TIME and ENERGY?

Rearrange her furniture and bake, of course!

Check out our new set up in the living room and the pretty bouquet in the dining room. I also posted a pic of the bread I made-and Andy yummin it up. Funny how something that takes 3 and 1/2 hours to make can be devoured in 15 minutes.

Good bread + good book = one happy Andy

It's Hammer Time.

Yes. Time to Hammer down on something that's long overdue to be hammered. Tis the season of Lent.



So, the traditional purpose of the Season of Lent (for me, at least) is to rid my life of something that I practice daily-in excess-to serve as a memorial reminder of Jesus' life. One year I gave up sugar-not a good one. Another year I gave up "carbs". Last year I did chocolate. You get the picture. Lent was a weight loss goal for me-not exactly representing a time of annual commemoration of the the "Holy week". More of a "let's look smokin hot for spring break" preperation.



This year, I am taking this more seriously. I thought about the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert enduring temptation-yikes. I thought "Woah. Mine better be good". So, for Lent this season, I am ridding myself of judgement. In the process, I have learned that I am an extremely judgemental person. And, like Jesus said, I will be judged as I have judged. Very SCARY.



I judge really dumb things. I judge people I don't even know. I judge really good people. The worst part is, I don't always say it-sometimes I just think it.



Self-denial is a crazy good thing. Judgment is alive in my body and it needs to be cut out.



I feel more prepared than ever this year to honor the memory of Jesus during Holy Week of his Death and Resurrection.

[insert cool Bon Jovi lyric here]

Okay, so winter 2010 has, so far, been my "summer of 69"-minus the sunshine and babes in neon bikinis.

Andy and I have comfortably sunk into the sweet routine of "work hard, play hard". This month was especially fun because we had some family, the Garates, come visit. We LOVE to have family come and stay with us. We have two luxurious camping air mattresses, an extra bathroom, and blankets galore!

The Garates made every event a fun adventure. We spent Valentines day playing in the city, where we participated in some good old fashion 'discovery learning' at the Pacific Science Center, we ate crazy good Mexican, and nibbled on several unique cupcakes at the Seattle's finest "Cupcake Royale".

Among lots of laughs, baths, and great food, it was an easy weekend full of fun...and about 12 games of Settlers.

I had the last week off of school (I LOVE my job), and spent most of the week running, playing with my sweet neice Amelia, and spying on you on Facebook.

Oh, and to top it all off, WE SAW BON JOVI LAST NIGHT! Since then, any silence in our house has been replaced with "Livin on a Prayer", "Wanted Dead or Alive" and "I'll Be There for You".

R & R (and I'm not talking about the whiskey)

Life is good for the Orrs up North. December was full of all kinds of treats.



MIKE: 3 days of celebrating a short homecoming for Mike--a friend, a brother, a soldier. We made some fancy meals, talked about his life in Iraq, and reaped the benefits of having such an honest and dear friend.






DEAN AND BONNIE: 4 days of family. Dean and Bonnie came for a great stay that included lots of late night chats, a venision roast dinner, a memorable rope show in in my classroom (Dean has my kids wrapped around his finger....or should I say, around his lasso), a Seattle symphony, and OUR NEW FURNITURE---THANK YOU RACHEL AND BOB!! Our house is full of gems from all of the Orrs. Thanks to everyone for making our house a real home. Now GET UP HERE!!!!!

CHRISTMAS: Our very first Christmas in our new house. We lit candles, made scones, drank coffee, and enjoyed a visit from Heath, Grant, and Amelia.

MEXICO: 8 days of dancing, margaritas, frisbee, fish tacos, dancing, margaritas, sunrises, swimsuits, dancing, margaritas, amigos, australians, dancing and margaritas. We're already saving up for next year.

Told ya! December was full of all kinds of goodies.

Goin pro

Lately in my teaching profession, I've noticed I've hit "bulldozer" mode. I say bulldozer mode, because I have this sense that I'm plowing through a number of obstacles through out my day, without really noticing the severity, the comedy, the seriousness, or the grossness of what I'm actually dealing with.

Take Tuesday, for example. Now, I think it's safe to say that all teachers-no matter what they teach-have several decisions to make during the day, and all kinds of unpredictable events pop up. In all reality, no day is a "typical" day. So, I'm not saying that my Tuesday was any more crazy than any one else's Tuesday. However, it wasn't until I got home that I realized what I had just bulldozed my way through.

I started my class by collecting my student's daily "red folders" that go home each night for parents to peruse my class info. I was pleasantly suprised to open a red folder from my student who had artistically spread poop all over the inside of the folder. I asked him immediately what happened, and he replied, "um. thank me?". These are 3 of 10 words in this little muchkins vocab. So, I was actually just kind of impressed that he spoke. I quickly corrected him "No. it's Thank you". He repeated me, the correct phrase, and was quickly rewarded a smile and pat on the shoulder for his correct usage of the word.

Shortly after, one of my students threw up all over his shirt, but made it to the garbage can for the clean up. Wow! He made it to the garbage can! We all celebrated. There were cheers, hugs, and lots of high fives. I had to quickly stop the high five giving when the blind student joined in. (Kids exchanging excited high-fives to a blind student typically ends in someone getting slapped in the face. We all know from experience.)

Then circle time on the carpet that is my comfy shag rug. All of the big kids know to sit just right as to block my little carpet eater from pulling large pieces of lint and sticking them up his nose or down his throat or in places I don't need to mention here. I am calmed by the grinding sound of one the kids chewing his chewie toy. A contraption that is keeping him from biting the kid next to him. I am so thankful for that chewie toy.

I start singing my "Hello" song, and the students hum along. I sing like I am center stage with a huge smile on my face. I kind of get into it, and they love it. All of a sudden I hear a loud grunt and a shoe is thrown at my head from across the room. One of my student's blocks the shoe with his hand. "WOW! Nice job!" I say. And he smiles. With all three teeth.

So, as I sat down to write this, I was planning on sharing the full day's events. Not necessary. This is just a taste of what I reflected on after a long days work. Like everyone else's job: you just do whatever works. And I think I could "go pro" when it comes to getting that down.